Rutgers Basketball (4-0) is set to open Big Ten Conference play this upcoming Monday in a matchup against Maryland (4-1) at the Xfinity Center in College Park, Maryland. It will be the Scarlet Knights first road game of the season and a litmus test of sorts heading into B1G play.
On Friday, head coach Steve Pikiell previewed the upcoming matchup and is confident that his team will be ready for the challenge.
“We’ve just been hunkered down here and going over Maryland,” Pikiell said in his press conference. “We had a little bit of a crazy week here academically, but now we will really put a good focus into our practices here and be prepared for Maryland. They won our league last year, you guys know that and you also know that we’ve never won at Maryland. So it’s a huge test here coming up in our first league game and I feel like we will be well prepared.”
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This weekend’s trip to Maryland will be the first road game for the Scarlet Knights in 2020 and there are a lot of things that come with hitting the road in today’s world.
“I’ve never had more meetings over traveling,” said Pikiell. “We have to talk roommates, the bus driver getting tested for COVID, how we are going to eat since we can’t have a buffet. Spending a lot of time over just a regular road trip, but that is the world we live in, now just trying to keep everyone safe. Also Maryland has different restrictions than New Jersey and other places, so you have to be a lawyer too in order to figure out all their COVID stuff. A lot of things over COVID and a lot of things I guess in the past were taken for granted. We are just trying to be real smart and keep our guys healthy and safe. With adding that element of travel, buses and stuff, it just ups my nerves. We are going to go the day before, get tested in the morning. You have to get tested in the morning, you can’t just go up and down anymore, you have to go down there and get tested through their protocol. It just adds another layer to our travel.”
Despite starting out the season 4-0, Rutgers Hoops has been without one of their top players in guard Geo Baker who has been held out with an ankle sprain. However it sounds like Baker could be back on the floor for the Scarlet Knights relatively soon.
“Geo hasn’t practice, but I’m hoping today he can do some things in practice,” said Pikiell. “We are hoping to find that out today, so we would like him to try it out a little bit and see where he is.
"I mean he did a good job on this sprain, it was a high ankle sprain, not good. We will see how he is today, it’s real hard to get yourself ready in two days for Maryland, but I’m hoping he can get through some part of practice today as that will be a big step for us.”
Recently Duke men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski aka Coach K suggested the idea of postponing the season due to the ongoing pandemic, however coach Pikiell had a different response.
“I didn’t hear those comments, so I don’t know what context they were in,” he said. “I just coach one team, not any other team, but our guys are doing a great job and I know they want to play. The pandemic is challenging in every area. We just got to keep plugging away to keep our guys safe, so that’s all I really have to say on that issue.”
The Scarlet Knights are set to take on the Maryland Terrapins on Monday night at 6pm and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
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